Intermezzo: Matters of Prescience
by NovaFloresca
Summary: The Purification Incident is over, but for those involved, the struggle is only beginning. The inhabitants of Gensokyo will find that coming to terms with the new realities of their world is a trial, and there are those who look to the coming chaos and see only opportunity . . .
1. Kindling

**Chapter 1 : Kindling  
**

_I think I smell something burning._ Fujiwara no Mokou stopped in her tracks and sniffed at the air, taking several long, even breaths. The Bamboo Forest of the Lost was no place for a stray flame, especially not during the dry crisp of late autumn. As fire was her constant companion, however, it took some effort to separate the elusive smell from the ever-present odor of char around her. _No, that's definitely something burning. In fact . . ._ Her stomach came to the conclusion first, growling loudly as Mokou recognized the aroma of roasting meat.

_Oh, right, I forgot to eat today. Ah well, at least I didn't have a re-light._ Mokou felt her cheeks heat, and she tried to keep from contemplating the reality behind the glib turn of phrase, for accidentally starving to death had to be among the most embarrassing ways to die imaginable. A shake of the head dismissed the embarrassing thought, and then Mokou set off, walking at a comfortable pace and letting the scent lead her. _After all, nobody is going to leave meat unattended, not out here! Even if they're not as hungry as I am, there are plenty enough youkai who are more stomach than brains for anybody who's doing cooking to keep watch._

Following the delicious smell back to its source gave Mokou a shock- the aroma was in fact coming from her own house. Well, perhaps "house" was a bit too strong a word; the dwelling was more of a cottage at best, one that was saved from being termed a "shack" only by the lingering dignity of a noblewoman . . . and some substantial help from Keine. _She must have come over to help out again and brought dinner with her. I really should convince her to quit it, or at least find some way to repay her._ With a rueful smile on her face, Mokou marched up to her own front door, gave a polite knock, and entered.

"Welcome home, dear!" called a voice that was most definitely not Keike Kamishikawa. Mokou stopped dead in her tracks, jaw hanging slack and a nasty nervous tic grabbing at one eye.

"What the fuuu-" Mokou let the obscenity drop in a gust of exhaled air, too gobsmacked to form words properly.

"What, I always wanted to try that once," replied Kaguya Houraisan, former Princess of the Moon and current antagonist of one Fujiwara no Mokou.

"Okay, what the fuuu-" Another attempt at interrogating the onetime Moon Princess as to her intentions dribbled right out of Mokou's mouth when she realized that not only was Kaguya _here_, in her _house_ (okay, cottage, not-quite-a-shack, whatever, it still amounts to trespass!), and worse, she was wearing a pink apron . . . and basically nothing else, that Mokou could see, and cooking something besides. The fact that Kaguya appeared to have brought an entire portable kitchen with her, consisting of a wheeled grill with caddies on the sides for condiments and tools made it all the worse, as it both stole Mokou's next interrogative gambit ("Who the fuuu- said you could use my stuff?!") and made plain just how little the phoenix actually possessed.

"Mokou, dear, close your mouth, you'll attract flies, and that will spoil your appetite," added Kaguya helpfully. Mokou's mouth snapped shut, but only to let her teeth grind together as her anger boiled up.

"Okay, just what the fuck is going on here?" snapped Mokou, hurling out the question before Kaguya could short-circuit her any further. _What the hell does she think she's doing in that- that getup!_ Mokou fumed as she glared at Kaguya, the analytical portion of her mind noting just how _long_ and how _shapely_ the Princess' legs were, seeing as they were fully on display. _Damnit! Now is not the time! So what if she's beautiful? That's what started this whole mess in the first place!_

"Well, I was going to try something along the line of 'what, can't a girl make a nice meal for a friend', but that wouldn't fly even if I had caught you in a post-resurrection stupor, and I wasn't going to blow you up just to have that bit of an edge. You can say 'thank you' now."

"Uhh? If this isn't just a crazy set-up to get the drop on me, then what _do_ you want?"

"I want to talk about us, and about the future." The joking, smirking Kaguya was gone, replaced for the moment by a mien appropriate for a Princess. "You've heard the report from Reimu's Outsider friends, I assume?"

"The Incubator people? Yeah. The Universe is supposed to last, what, 22 billion years they said? And that's without them doing anything else to stretch things out further."

"That's a long time," Kaguya mused.

"You can say that again," replied Mokou.

"That's a long time." Kaguya turned a feline smirk to Mokou's glare. "Hey, you gave me the opening. But yes, it's a long time. Hell, we've had our feud for about a thousand years, and _that_ is a long time. Eirin thinks that with her alchemy, she might live for one million years, and that's definitely a long time. But a billion is _one thousand_ millions-"

"I know how to math, Kaguya." Mokou growled out.

"Just shut up and listen to me!" Kaguya banged her utensils against the stove in frustration. "If every year of our history was the length of that million years, we'd still be barely started!"

"Uh, okay?" _We?_Mokou worked the word around in her mouth silently, trying to figure it out.

"Arrgh! If you're going to be obtuse, let me spell it out for you: I. Need. You."

"You _what?!_"

"I'm not asking you to love me, or even be my friend. But I'm scared. I measured it out." Kaguya descended into a blank monotone, her eyes wide and wet, but not seeing anything. "I painted a line almost the whole way around my room. You remember what it looks like?" Mokou nodded; she had been inside the Princess' abode on more than one occasion, all invariably lethal. _And that doesn't even count all the times I've floated outside, looking in her window . . ._ "I made it 22 meters long, 1 per billion. Then I tried to paint in how long Eirin would last. It didn't take much paint, let me tell you!" Kaguya coughed on something that was part laugh, part sob. "It's one millimeter. And for the entire time I've been alive? I can't get a brush small enough or a magnifying glass big enough!

"You know, if I could, if I had any way to get more, I'd give the Hourai elixir to everybody I knew, even the people I don't like, hell, I'd pour it on people I don't even know in the Human Village, just so there would be others to share the long journey with us. But I can't. So I'm begging you, please, I don't care if you hate me, just please don't let me forget what it means to be Human."

"I-" _What do I say? How do I even say it? _"I, er, think the meat is done," Mokou put in, lamely.

"Huh? So it is." Kaguya shook her head hard, visibly pulling herself together to bring the roast over to the cottage's rudimentary table. Mokou sat down and was handed cutlery, and began to work on the food set before her. As she chewed, Mokou tried to push her thoughts toward neutral ground.

"Ah, Kaguya . . ." _How do I put this diplomatically?_ "I, uh, hope you didn't pay much for this roast." Mokou swallowed hard to get the vulcanized piece of meat to go down.

"Oh, don't worry, it was cheap," Kaguya replied. At that moment, the Moon Princess got up to rummage in her cart for something to drink, and Mokou looked up in time to see a garter around Kaguya's thigh. The phoenix had her hand up and curled in a casting gesture before she consciously realized what she was thinking, and when the conflux of the shape of the roast, the shape of Kaguya's leg, and the comment arrived together in her mind, Mokou was already unleashing hell. The incinerating blast struck Kaguya while she was completely unaware, filling the space with the stink of Kaguya's burned flesh and completely blowing out the back wall of the cottage. Mokou then took flight, an action as reflexive as the others, if for different reasons.

* * *

_Stupid, stupid, stupid fucking idiot! Why did you have to go and do that? You knew damn well that wasn't what she was implying! You've smelled what her flesh smells like roasting before, and you knew from the moment you walked in that wasn't what she was cooking. _Of course_ she bought some cheap cut, she's never been a good cook._

_And how would you know that? Oh, right, because you're a creep and a stalker, and you've had a crush on her from day fucking one. Your tastes and Father's were exactly alike, and that's why you hate her so much. It's like that time you found the beehive as a little girl- how could something so pretty hurt so much? You should just pull up here, fly yourself right into the sun and save her the trouble of continuing to hate you-_

A sharp whistle broke Mokou's reverie, and as she focused on the outside world once more, she realized the sound and the accompanying tug of airflow came from an arrow, shot past her ear. Mokou braked in the air and turned around, although she already knew who would be there.

"Well, I suppose congratulations are in order, or something. I think you've finally found a way to really hurt her." Eirin Yagokoro floated high overhead, silhouetting herself against the gibbous moon in a particularly unsubtle bit of symbolism.

"Yeah, well, she was asking for it," Mokou snarled, her voice harsh for want of control.

"She was, and I told her as much when she first floated this crazy idea to me. But that's not why I'm here. Rather, I want to ask how are _you _doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on now," Eirin scoffed. "Whatever else you might think of me, you know I am not a moron, nor am I a dullard. You think I haven't noticed you skulking around Eientei? I don't recall peeking in windows being a typical part of a forest guide's routine."

"You _told _her about that?!" Mokou blurted out.

"No, I did not. The Princess doesn't need her ego inflated any larger than it already is, or she will have trouble getting through doors." Eirin dropped down to the same level as Mokou, turning so that the phoenix could see the sincerity of the Lunarian's words. "For such as it is worth, Kaguya was being genuine with her offer, clumsy as it was."

"Yes, well, I . . . What do I do?"

"You could try being yourself." replied Eirin. "Not the scion of the Fujiwara, not the avenger of a grudge thirteen centuries old, but simply be Mokou, and look out for Mokou's interests for once."

"That's asking rather a lot," Mokou replied, shifting uncomfortably about. "I can't just turn it off overnight."

"And I'm not asking you to do so. But our world is changing, even as we speak. It is only natural to step back every so often and reevaluate our positions. I mean, hell, I never expected to live in a world where Cirno was in the top 5 of the power rankings, but gods preserve us, here we are."

"Heh, yeah, there is that." Mokou chuckled slightly. "So what do I do then?"

"Just take things slow." replied Eirin. "Whatever will happen, let it come naturally. After all, you've got all the time in the world to work it out."

"I'll think on that," Mokou replied, before turning toward home.

"Ah, there is one slight problem, though." Eirin called out, causing Mokou to pull up short. "You're going to need to find new housing arrangements. Your cottage more-or-less burned to the ground."

"More-or-less?" Mokou scoffed.

"Well, I called for a fire crew when I saw what happened. They're a skillful lot, but they were trained and equipped by the Kappa, so I can't rightly say how much was destroyed by the fire and how much was destroyed by their water spells, but there's nothing left."

"How could you tell? There was nothing there to begin with." Mokou gave a bitter chuckle as she considered her situation. "So now what do I do, Oh Wise and All-Knowing One?"

("I'm a doctor, not a real estate agent,") Eirin muttered beneath her breath. "No, hang on a second, I have one idea. It isn't very fancy, though." By way of reply, Mokou lit up a cigarette so that the Lunarian could see the sarcastic glare plastered upon her face.

* * *

The first snowflakes of winter were swirling through the air as Fujiwara no Mokou sat on the stoop of her new abode, puffing on a cigarette and mumbling a steady string of curses under her breath, damning both needle and thread to a multitude of hells and other misfortunes as she worked through her self-appointed task. So intent was the phoenix on her project that she didn't notice the shadow of a figure standing over her, bemused at the situation. Finally, after several minutes of watching Mokou furiously plowing through the cloth, pausing only for the briefest of instants to cauterize the latest poke-hole in her fingers with a tiny splash of flame, the interloper spoke.

"Wait, you can _sew_?" asked Kaguya in sheer bafflement.

"Yeah," Mokou grumbled. _Don't panic don't freak out don't do anything stupid-_ "Ow!" Mokou hissed as the needle sank deep into its preferred canvas once more. "Well, more or less," the phoenix muttered, lifting up her hand to show the embedded needle.

"Interesting. When did you learn to do that?"

"Well, Father insisted I learn the skill as a girl, he thought it might help cure me of being a tomboy. I didn't start really using it until I was on my own. These charms keep my clothes from burning, but they don't do anything for arrows, blades, bloodstains . . ." _Okay, genius, don't get all passive-aggressive, just get to the point._ "So . . . how did you find me?"

"I didn't _find_ you, exactly," Kaguya replied. "I had to make a trip out to the shrine of the forest anyway, and I'd heard somebody had taken up residence at this guidepost. Eirin had that little knowing smirk on her face when I asked her about it, so I figured it would be worth my trouble to check it out. If I may be so nosy, what are you making? That doesn't look like any cloth I'm familiar with."

"Oh, it's just a basic gown, but the cloth is asbestos. Doesn't burn, which is rather handy for being me." Mokou replied_, _looking down so that the Princess couldn't see the blush burning on her cheeks.

"Wait, isn't that supposed to be toxic or something?"

"The fibers can give you lung cancer, but once they're spun into thread it should be fine, unless you were to say go at it with a scouring stone and then inhale the fluff. Besides, that would suppose that I would go long enough between rezzing for lung cancer to actually take effect." _Oh, nice going, way to step in it there! Okay, think, quick, try to get the conversation back on track!_ "So, what are you taking to the shrine?"

"Oh this?" Kaguya hefted her basket for emphasis. "It's Bribe Letty Day. She has a bit of a sweet tooth. I've found that it only takes about one good-sized basket of candied fruits to get her to exempt Eientei from the worst of the weather."

"Huh. That is handy. I always assumed it was some big fancy bit of rabbit magic, or something."

"Nope, just good old-fashioned personal manipulation," replied Kaguya, grinning. "Also, this is for you." Kaguya handed over a small package, tied up with a ribbon. "Anyway, good luck, and try not to sew any of your fingers together!" and with that, the Princess sauntered off down the path. Mokou meanwhile was experiencing something like a panic. _What's this all about? It must be some kind of trick, she must still be mad at me. _Worry didn't keep Mokou from untying the ribbon as fast as her fingers could move however, and the phoenix yanked off the box lid to find . . . a charged Spellcard.

* * *

_Yeah, I should have expected that,_ Mokou thought once enough of her skull had regenerated to permit thinking. _Still, for her that was positively polite. Hang on, what's this?_ Mokou picked up the lid of the gift box, which had survived the small explosion by virtue of having a thin sheet of metal in it, which was inscribed with kanji.

_"My dearest Mokou,_

_Sorry about that little trick, but I wanted to even up the score between us, for old times' sakes. I would like to make a fresh start, however, and so to prove my sincerity, I am declaring a truce. I shall not initiate any further hostilities from here on out, and will defend myself as minimally as possible. I would also be delighted if you were to be our guest at Christmas this year. Please give the matter your consideration, but I will understand if you decline to attend._

_Sincerely,_

_Kaguya Houraisan"_

"Huh." Mokou read through the note a second time, turning it over to make sure there wasn't a "P.S." or some other trick involved. "Huh," she said again, setting aside the note and picking up her sewing once more.

"Well, that solves the problem of how am I going to give her her Christmas present." Mokou said to herself, before setting needle and thread to cloth once more.


	2. Dreadful Masquerade

Chapter 2 : Dreadful Masquerade

The ping of the doorbell at the Miki residence startled Kyōko Sakura from her state of semi-consciousness. "Oh, now what the hell?" she muttered. "Just because it's Halloween, doesn't mean I have any candy here. Well, technically I do, but you're sure as shit not getting any, Whoever-You-Are-That's-Ringing-The-Doorbell!"

The bell continued clamoring as Kyōko rushed down the staircase, but she missed a step and came to a halt when she saw who it was waiting in the entryway. _What the hell?_ Kyōko mused, a thought which leaked out onto the empathic network enough to make Charlotte look up from where she was leaning on the buzzer. The peach-haired girl caught sight of Kyōko, and laid off the buzzer in favor of making frantic "hurry up" motions with both hands. Kyōko shook her head in amusement, then leaped down the rest of the stairs and hit the button to unlock the doors, which gave her not nearly enough time to brace for impact as the younger Puella Magi surged through the doors.

"Kyōkothankgoodnessyou'vegottahidemethey'vebothgonemadandIneedhelp!" Charlotte exclaimed, before sucking in a huge breath to replace the one she'd just spent.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Peachie, if you go any higher, I'm gonna need a seeing-ear dog to understand you." Kyōko smirked, which in turn drew an explosive giggle from Charlotte, who had to stop and suck in more air.

"Hah, I think I needed that." replied Charlotte. "Okay, so it goes like this, I was out with Cirno and Wriggle, Mystia and Yapon-"

"Wait, I thought you'd be out trick-or-treating? And who the hell is Yapon?"

"Uh, we were. We came over to this side 'cause everybody in Gensokyo either doesn't have any candy, or they have a 'shoot Nineballs on sight' policy. 'Yapon' is Kyouko Kasodani's nickname, you remember her, she's in the band? I didn't want to make it sound like I had somehow taken retroactive possession of you or anything."

"R-i-i-i-ght. Are you sure it's safe to be hanging around with those girls?"

"Well, it's not, but not in that way, thank you very much!" Charlotte grumbled. "Also, why aren't _you_ out trick-or-treating?"

"Me and Halloween don't get along." replied Kyōko.

"Another 'bad old days' thing?"

"Sorta. It was one of Dad's things, reminding people that it's called 'All Hallows Eve' for a reason. Feels kinda wrong to go out and do the same stuff he preached against. Well, that and with the hoodlums, it's all hands on deck for the cops, which apparently includes Deputy Constables," Kyōko said, sourly.

"Well, I wouldn't mind having that problem right now," Charlotte shot back.

"What, being home alone with nobody to go out with, and being too screwed up about old problems to go out anyway even if you did?"

"Something like that, sure. Okay, let me explain this- well, not so much explain, because it doesn't make any sense, but let me start from the beginning at least." Charlotte took a long centering breath, let it out, then continued her story. "So, you remember how I sorta had a hatecrush on you?" Kyōko raised an eyebrow in response.

"Just what are you trying to say, Peachie, cause if you're saying you want to try again, right now I just might take you up on it, and that's going to go poorly for both of us."

"You know, that's sorta tempting, if only to watch Sayaka and Mami have to arm-wrestle over who gets to kill you." Charlotte quipped.

"Ha ha, very funny. Anyway, you were _saying_ . . ." Kyōko leaned on the last word, trying to push the peach-haired girl along.

"Right, right, as I was saying. Wriggle has got the same kind of thing going for me. And for Cirno. And Cirno has sorta let on that she would like me like that if I let her."

"So, what, are three-ways illegal in Gensokyo or something?" Kyōko blurted out, earning a swift kick to the shin for her troubles. "Ow!"

"Yeah, well, you deserved it!" Charlotte crossed her arms and pouted. _Oh, God, that's adorable,_ Kyōko thought as she looked on. "You know I can hear you right?"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll be good now, I promise. So what's the deal then, you're looking for a place to hide out, or is there more?"

"I, well I dunno." Charlotte frowned. "Things came to a head while we were out trick-or-treating, and I had to get away. But now I don't know what to do, or even where to start!"

"Well, first off, are you sure it's safe to leave them wandering about without a Responsible Adult Figure keeping track of them?"

"Bah, we weren't even the weirdest ones in our group!" Charlotte giggled. "There was this one girl who was dressed up like some kinda crazy shrine maiden-slash-battleship, and she had to stop at every place that had tea, to 'refuel' she said. Oh, and her guns actually worked." Kyōko's expression went straight through 'amused' to 'borderline terror' at that thought, to which Charlotte reassured her, "It's not like they were _guns_ guns, just those little confetti poppers you get for festival days, but still, she'd pop 'em off whenever we were someplace that looked like it might be a good haul. It was working, too, 'cause the ship bits of her costume were about _thiiis_ big," Charlotte spread her arms as wide as they would go, for emphasis. "And they were like half-full of candy by the time I bailed." Kyōko palmed her face and made crocodile tears.

"I'm too young to go 'kids these days' and weep for the future damnit! Waaahhh!" Kyōko wailed theatrically.

"Hey! Buck up, we're not done with my problems yet, you can break down later, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. So you ditched 'em and ran over here. Now what?"

"Now . . . now I dunno what." Charlotte sighed. "Why the hell can't I just be normal and live in a world where I don't get stuck in situations like this?"

"Oh, that one's easy- blame the fluffball. It's written in the Incubator Employee Handbook, only take the barking crazy ones."

"Well, at least there's a reason . . . hey, waitaminute!" Charlotte stamped her foot and glared at Kyōko. "Are you saying I'm crazy?!"

"Peachie, you're stuck in a love triangle between an ice fairy and a youkai firefly, both of whom are certifiable, and when you needed help, you came running to somebody who's made being a trainwreck into a career. Short answer: Yes."

"Awww . . . Hey, can we at least go and sit down to talk this out? And maybe get some tea? It's a bit chilly out there, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Can do, but there's a catch."

"Oh?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow, waiting for the trap to be sprung.

"Yeah, you have to pay your shrink's bill . . . in loot." replied Kyōko, pointing at Charlotte's bagful of candy for emphasis.

"Oh, fine. You monster."

* * *

Some minutes later, Kyōko was in possession of mouthful of candy, a cup of tea in each hand, and a dirty look from Charlotte. Seeing that she had achieved all her goals for the evening, the redhead plopped down on the living room sofa and munched away at her pilfered loot while waiting for Charlotte to speak.

"What're you looking at me for?" the peach-haired girl finally said. "You're the expert here."

"Yeah, but you're the one with the problem here." Kyōko replied, leaning forward.

"But- That- I thought you'd at least have some of the answers already."

"Hah!" Kyōko laughed aloud. "Peachie, I don't even have all the questions yet, never mind answers. See, that's the other reason I'm here tonight, Blueberry's kinda pissed at me. Somewhere along the line, she came to the assumption that I'd join her in going all Knight of Justice. I told her what happens when you assume." This got a blank look from the younger Puella Magi. " 'When you assume, you make an _ass_ out of _you_ and _me._' It's a joke. And not a very funny one, judging by the number of things that were thrown at my head."

"Wait, you guys had a _fight_?!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah. We do that, fairly often in fact."

"No, it's just, I mean, I didn't pick it up at all."

"Yeah, well, we've been trying to keep things a little more quiet, not put everything out on the wire, so to speak." Kyōko replied, sheepishly.

"I, um, thank you." Charlotte studied her tea.

"So, back to the problem at hand. I don't know if I can find the answer for you, but I can maybe point you in the right direction. Let's take it down like it was a Witch- what's the biggest problem right now, the one that's gonna blow up in your face first?"

"Wriggle," Charlotte answered immediately, then blushed. "Like I said, she's got a hatecrush going, only it swings back and forth between all hate and all crush. It doesn't help any that Wriggle's a Nineball."

"You'll have to explain that one, cause you've said it twice now and it doesn't make any sense," Kyōko interjected.

"Trust me, it doesn't make any more sense once you've had it explained. It's like an inside joke and/or a gang name. Basically it's made up of the 'kids' of Gensokyo, all these low-powered youkai and fairies and whatnots who like to make trouble and get whomped on for it. They stick together for protection and friendship.

"Well, so we get into the mess with the Purifiers, and Cirno gets her Soul Gem. Suddenly here she is, waxing the floor with Reimu and the other big guns, and then she- Wriggle- pulls Rumia's ribbon off and Rumia goes all supermode. So that's two of the gang who now play in the big leagues, and Rumia's already drifting off. She's scared that I'm going to take away Cirno too, and then she'll be left without her friends and without protection."

"Ouch," Kyōko sighed. "What a mess. And lemme guess, everything you do to try and convince her you'll stick around just scares her off?"

"Yeah," Charlotte sighed. "I was hoping that bringing them over for trick-or-treat would help, but it didn't seem to work. I know what she really wants, and I just can't give it to her."

"A Soul Gem. Nova would go apeshit if we tried."

"Nova? Psssh, try Reimu. I keep waiting for her to try banning me from going over, or at least from hanging out with the Nineballs. She does not like having us around, not one bit."

"Really? I thought she was pretty cool, y'know, at least for where she's coming from."

"Reimu has . . . changed a bit since the Incident. It was a lot easier to be the rebel and stick it to Yukari. Now Reimu's the one responsible for everything, and she's not liking it too much." Charlotte sipped at her tea, collecting her thoughts. "Okay, analogy time: If Reimu is basically the top cop of Gensokyo, then Incubator Contracts are like atomic bazookas that we're handing out to the Yakuza."

"Christ on a cracker! It can't be _that_ bad, can it?"

"Oh, yes it can-" Charlotte was interrupted by the ring of her phone. "-damnit! Time to find out how much trouble I'm in . . . Yeahlo?" The peach-haired girl slugged down the last of her tea in one go. Kyōko was just starting to smirk when the cup slipped from Charlotte's fingers and bounced on the carpet. "No way! That can't be- No!" Charlotte was on her feet now, looking around in an increasingly frantic state.

"Peachie! Talk to me, what's going on?" Kyōko clapped her hands down on Charlotte's shoulders and turned the smaller girl to face her for good measure.

"T-that was Alice. She found a Witch. In Gensokyo." Charlotte swallowed hard, to push the lump in her throat down enough to be able to talk. "And I c-can't feel Cirno."

"Oh shit!" Kyōko exclaimed. "Charlotte, look at me. I promise you, we're gonna fix this. But I need you to hang it together for a little bit. Call Alice, get her to 'card us to her in five minutes, got it?"

"Five minutes. Yeah." Charlotte nodded, on autopilot now, and thumbed the 'call back' icon. Meanwhile, Kyōko turned inward to make use of a "speed dial" of a different sort.

_HEY HOMERUN! Talk to me._

_Ow! What is it? You don't need to shout._ Despite the circumstanced, Kyōko smirked a bit when she heard Madoka from the other end of the line squealing "what was _that_?!" after being hit with the bleed-over of the empathic poke.

_Sorry, it's a new trick I've worked out, still fine-tuning it. But that's not important; we've got Witch trouble._

_What? Who?_

_We think it's Cirno._ The response that rolled down the line to Kyōko was too obscene to be expressed simply with words, and the redhead blanched as she pushed the rancid emotions from her mind.

_I'm gonna 'card you in, okay?_ Kyōko sent, before muttering to herself, "I knew there was a reason I liked Homerun so much. Such a kind and gentle soul, that one." A mental shuffle brought a Spellcard to hand. _Apple-Blueberry Marmalade huh? That'll do. If things go so bad I have to summon her over just to use a binary card, then maybe, it might just possibly be time to retreat, for at least a little while._

Channeling the arcane energies of the Spellcard into the translocation spell felt oddly like a handshake, and then Kyōko _pulled_ on the offered hand . . . and two people popped out into the room. Homura and Madoka hit the floor already dressed for battle, and Kyōko didn't miss how the simple presence of Madoka caused Charlotte's spirits to bounce back a bit. Homura on the other hand seemed even more unsettled than the circumstances warranted.

"Where's the Witch?" Homura said, sharply, causing Charlotte to flinch. Kyōko shook her head.

"Hold up just a moment Homuerun, we've gotta change trains." replied the redhead. To Homura's arched eyebrow, Kyōko extended a hand, while grabbing Charlotte's hand on the other side. This got a small glare, but Homura and Madoka linked up as well, and then the four of them were pulled into another translocation.

This time, all four Puella Magi stumbled a bit, as the one-two punch of Gensokyo's magically-charged atmosphere and an underlying current of despair washed over them. Alice was there waiting, along with Marisa, hanging back and looking wan. The surroundings looked normal enough, a side street in the Human Village, but the air was just strange enough to put the Puella Magi on guard. It was a night that was highly appropriate for Halloween, with a darkness that seemed to swallow light and sound both.

"Are we already inside the Barrier?" Homura asked, flicking out her hair and passing her hand over her buckler in one smooth motion, coming out with a loaded Beretta. "This despair feels strong, and too thick, like we stand right in the middle of phenomenon."

"I don't believe so, but that's why we called for you." Alice replied. "Our experience with Witches is limited."

"Well, _I _have plenty of experience with witches, just nothing that could be applied here," Marisa guffawed from behind. The glares this comment earned from Homura and Alice were counterbalanced with snickers from Kyōko and Madoka.

"If Marisa-san can still make jokes about it, the Witch couldn't have gotten too strong of a hold on the town." Madoka interjected. "Let's find it before it gets any worse."

"Homura, Madoka, take point, please. The rest of us have all had significant dealings with Cirno in the past, which I gather can provoke an especially ferocious reaction from the Witch."

"But . . . we don't know for sure it's Cirno, right? I mean, couldn't it be somebody else?" Charlotte pleaded. "Has anybody seen Koishi recently?" said the peach-haired girl, a forlorn hope in her eyes, even as the other Puella Magi felt a greasy undercurrent of self-loathing rolling off her for wishing that fate upon another.

"No." came the reply from two places at once, then Marisa and Homura stopped and looked at each other strangely. "Jinx!" Marisa called, but the light comment seemed overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

"Explain," Homura asked, still on edge.

"Well, far be it from me to call out anybody else's lifestyle, ze, but Koishi-chan is _weird._ I can't read minds, but I imagine hers is more messed up than a Witch's Barrier on a good day. If she had gone over, just being near her would be like a bowl of bad mushroom stew. Not to mention the size of the crater she would leave behind."

"Birds of a feather . . . " Kyōko grumbled. "You'd think Nova would know better, yeah?"

"Indeed," replied Homura. "Granted, she wasn't particularly in a position to refuse the Contract, but that doesn't lessen the impact any."

"Hey, anybody feel like speaking a language I can understand?" Charlotte stomped her foot as she spoke.

"Koishi Komeiji has a powerful fixation upon Nova. This makes her extraordinarily strong, and dangerous besides. Only once before have I seen a Puella Magi primed to break as she is, and the results were catastrophic."

"So what happened?" Charlotte asked, not registering the set of glares burning into her from Homura and Kyōko besides.

"I don't want to talk about it," replied Homura.

"Alright, c'mon, we need to find this Witch, and we're going to have to do it the hard way." Kyōko broke in. "Split up, nice girls over there, us bad girls over this way, and scream real loud if you get bitten, okay?"

"Is your plan to maximize the chances of something going wrong?" Homura asked, acidly.

"Nah, if I wanted that to happen, I'd put Peachie and Sparks up front."

"Point."

* * *

As soon as the teams had separated enough for Kyōko to be confident there wouldn't be any bleed-over, she put the second part of her plan into motion. _Talk to me, Homerun. What's bothering you?_ Kyōko sent via her "tight-beam" empathic touch. To her credit, Homura barely even missed a step as she registered the link, not that it would have mattered much; Marisa was far too tense to notice, despite the carefree front she presented.

_It's . . ._ Kyōko thought she heard "none of your damn business" in the pipeline, but what Homura sent instead was, _I've been having headaches lately. Buzzing, unpleasant and getting stronger._

_Ouch! That's not good,_ Kyōko sent back. _And even I know enough to know that the Soul Gem should fix minor damage like that. When did it start?_

_Just after we defeated Ragnarok,_ Homura sent back, strongly enough that Kyōko could feel her teammate's distressed frown. It matched the one on Kyōko's face.

A "tally-ho" cry from Marisa drew the attention of the Puella Magi, who turned to see a pink-haired form closing in from the gathering dark. "Pinkie, what the hell?" Kyōko grumbled, but on closer inspection, the newcomer wasn't Madoka at all, although similar in appearance. The search party surrounded the girl.

"Okay, clear off! It's dangerous here, you need to get away to somewhere safe. Myouren Temple's thataway-" Marisa pointed her hakkero down the road and fired off a low-power ranging beam to break up the gloom. The pink-haired girl just stared at Marisa, who frowned and made shooing motions.

"!" the girl finally said, before trundling off in the direction of the beam radiating passive-aggressive dislike for the searchers. Kyōko shook her head in annoyance. _I know I swore off letting people become Witch-food just because it might be convenient, but I might make an exception for her. Some people._

_What is this? Kyōko Sakura expressing worry for those around her? Oh, how the mighty have fallen. _Along with the empathic speech, Homura inadvertently sent a dose of her inner pain, a bit of curdled nastiness like the dregs of a pot of burnt coffee. Kyōko shook her head. "_Minor" headaches, my ass!_

_It was Madoka, wasn't it?_ Kyōko then replied, changing gears. _She's was the case you were referring to earlier. _Instead of words, the link buzzed with shock at the deduction. _How did you-?_ came the immediate reply, putting a bit of a smirk on the redhead's face.

_Because you're you, Homerun. You wouldn't be that hyper-protective of anybody else. So, how bad was it?_

_She destroyed the Walpurgis with a single shot._ Kyōko let out a long whistle in response, unable to put her opinion of that bit of information into words.

* * *

Over on the "good girls" side of town, Alice was watching her Outside charges with increasing bemusement. Though they weren't anywhere near as close to one another as any of the traditional "teams" within their group, Charlotte and Madoka both shared the benefits of the empathic link, and they each had seen their skills sharpened to near-perfection by the previous months' battles. The end result was that even with Charlotte still pained by her fears, the pair were conducting a quick, thorough, and quiet sweep of the south side of the village. That would have been fine, if the evening's exercise involved only Mitikaharan Magi. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and Alice was starting to take a dim view of the situation, especially after a polite "excuse me" failed to attract any attention. A less polite followup likewise went ignored, and so, grimacing with distaste, Alice put more drastic measures into place.

While the two Puella Magi formed up at the corner of a shop in preparation of turning the corner and tackling the next street, a Shanghai Doll flitted up to Madoka's shoulder while a Hourai took station beside Charlotte. On cue, each doll grabbed an earlobe and pulled, generating a chorus of pained yells.

"Right, now that I have your attention, would you care to fill me in on the situation?" Alice asked, shooting the younger girls a dirty look.

"Ahh, sorry Alice-san!" Madoka replied, rubbing her ear. "It's just . . . there's no Witch here?"

"Oh?" Alice cocked an eyebrow at that.

"Yeah. A Witch's barrier usually covers a huge area, and even if not, we can sense them from a considerable ways away."

"Perhaps this one is concealing itself?" Alice replied, her curiosity piqued. Despite the horror of the situation, magical mysteries were something akin to a delicacy for the puppeteer. "I don't know what else could cause this sensation, that the very hope is being drained from the world." Unconsciously, Alice shivered, recalling the last time she had faced one of the fallen monsters. The concern provided enough distraction that none of the three noticed the figures approaching in the gathering gloom.

"Yeah, I feel it too, but I still don't think it's a Witch." Madoka replied. "I can feel Homura-chan on the other side of town, and if there was a Witch anywhere between here and there, I should be able to sense it, if not pinpoint its location. And besides that, a Witch stays true to the nature of her former self, and the level of subtlety this would require doesn't seem like it fits Cirno-chan . . . "

"What, what doesn't fit me now?" came an irritated voice from behind, causing all three searchers to yell in panic and turn in time to see a disgruntled Cirno pull a gaudy Buddha mask off her face and march up to them. The ice fairy hadn't yet thought of what to say next, however, when she was bowled completely off her feet by Charlotte.

"Cirno! Thank the gods you're alive! I thought you had died and become a Witch . . ." Charlotte cried out, and Cirno was embarrassed to feel tears freezing to her dress.

"Hey, nice job blowing our cover, dumbass!" Wriggle snarled as she and Mystia stepped out from the shadows and joined the party. "Tell me why we spent the last half an hour sneaking up on these idiots? Oh, and what the hell're you crying for? Cirno dies like twice a month, three times if the Starlight Berzerker is feeling bitchy." The tirade was enough to make Charlotte, already brittle from the evening's stress, snap completely. The Puella Magi moved so fast it seemed as if she had acquired teleportation powers, and when the dust settled, she was holding Wriggle in an embrace of a different kind- one that saw Charlotte's hands wrapped around the firefly's throat.

"Don't you get it yet? That's not how it works anymore! Once you have one of _these_-" To make her point, Charlotte bared the bracelet where her Soul Gem was mounted and showed it to Wriggle by way of pressing the gem into the other's eye socket. "-then you don't come back anymore, execept as a soulless monster that exists only to destroy life and hope itself!:

"But, er, I thought you guys had a fix for that," Wriggle stammered, suddenly bashful in the face of Charlotte's anger.

"We did, sorta, but we lost that when Nova became fully human." Charlotte replied. The peach-haired girl let go of Wriggle, as the adrenaline wore off and the shakes set in. "That's why I'm begging you please, please don't ever make a Contract."

"Uh, y-yeah. I won't. I'm sorry," Wriggle managed.

"Thank you," Charlotte replied, swiping at her eyes. After giving the girls a minute to recover, Alice coughed discreetly and stepped forward.

"While it is good to see you hale and whole, Cirno, it was my understanding that the Puella Magi can sense one another over some distance. How is it that you managed to sneak up on us?"

"Oh, that was the easy part," Cirno replied. "I figured out how to jam the signal. So since _somebody_ decided to ditch us earlier, we thought we'd follow her and prank her."

"And wasn't that fun?" Mystia put in. "Whatever she does to 'jam' the link goes from 'I can throw a snowball blindfolded and pick which cheek it hits' to 'well she's in _that_ half of Japan'. Seriously though, I know _why_ you ran away, Char, but why here? Couldn't you have at least stayed Outside? That ship girl was raking in the candy by the bucketful!"

"Wait, you know what her problem is, Mysti? Besides being an obnoxious peach tart and stringing us along that is?" Wriggle snapped, trying to cover for her earlier moment of weakness with a layer of bluster.

"Uh, yeah? It's not like it's that hard to put- mmmph!" Mystia was cut off abruptly when Charlotte clapped her hands over the sparrow's mouth.

"Let's save that discussion for another time, okay? There's still a something out here putting off serious bad vibes, and we need to find it and fix it." Charlotte put in.

"Well, looks like Cirno wasn't the problem afterall, ze!" Marisa said, dropping into the conversation in the most literal sense, as she dismounted her broom. "We heard the commotion and came running, since there's nothing interesting happening at the other end of town. So what's this discussion we're postponing?"

"Oh, nothing much, personal matters," Charlotte said, rapidly in order to forestall any more interesting explanations. Mystia, though, wasn't having any of it. Between all the other frustrations of the evening, and the residual thrill of terror from being within pecking distance of the Starlight Berserker, the sparrow decided to let the proverbial cat out of the bag (the actual cat wasn't going to come out of the bag any time soon; Chen hadn't been permitted to go on the trick-or-treat excursion, and she was taking her toll on the other Nineballs' loot).

"Well, Wriggle here has a terrible crush on Charlotte, and Cirno too, and because she only knows how to act like a bratty tomboy, she's been showing her affection by making them both miserable, and Char snapped and ran away, which cost us any chance at more candy, and that prompted Cirno to shut off her Puella Magi-thing so she could sneak up on Char and prank her, and well you know how well a Cirno prank goes, so of course that didn't work and oh in the meantime Char apparently thought Cirno had died so _she_ turned into a blubbering wreck, which caused Dimbulb over here to go full retard and so Char went off on _her_ and that's when you showed up. Did I leave anything out?"

"Only the part where it looks like your friends are going to draw straws over who gets to kill you, ze." Marisa replied in a deadpan. Mystia whirled about to see that both Charlotte and Cirno did, in fact, look murderous, and Wriggle was nowhere to be seen.

"Oops."

"Yeah, oops." Charlotte growled. "Marisa, would you mind terribly looking after my friend here for a little bit? I need to go do damage control, and that means not having any more damage inflicted in the first place."

"Uh, you sure, Peachie? You look kinda like a wreck yourself," Kyōko said, casting a worried eye on the younger Puella Magi.

"Well, who else is it gonna be? I'm the only one of us Outsiders who knows where she'd go to hide, and no offense Cirno, you're not exactly the comforting type."

"I could go," Alice offered.

"You do realize she would quite probably die of fright, right?"

"Funny, that never seems to stop her from pranking me at home." Alice grumbled in reply.

"A prank's a prank though, we know going in that it's dangerous. Right now, she's scared and hurting. Besides, I have to pay it forward sometime," Charlotte said, throwing a wink to Kyōko.

"You have a point. Very well, go on, and good luck," said Alice, although Charlotte was airborne before she got so far as "go on". With a shake of her head and a bit of a smile, the puppeteer dismissed the peach-haired girl from her thoughts, then turned back to the other matter at hand. "Now, what do we do about this chimerical Witch?"

"Well, it obviously isn't Cirno. So either the Incubators are fucking with us," Kyōko mused.

"Which is possible, but I would have expected the call to arms to be sounded by now," Homura replied. "Or, it isn't a Witch at all. And the despair doesn't seem to be as strong here, which doesn't fit with typical Witch abilities either." At that moment, epiphany struck, and Homura turned to Kyōko, who was having the exact same thought at the same time, as was Marisa.

"It was that pink-haired girl we ran into earlier!" chorused three voices at once.

"C'mon, let's go get her!"

* * *

BGM: Boots Randolph - "Yakkety Sax"

As it turned out, their mysterious fountain of despair hadn't gone far, but she wasn't game to be caught, either. The strange pink-haired youkai was, in fact, leading the search party on quite the merry chase, and for a foolishly simple reason; the searchers were so accustomed to flying that they took to the air out of habit, while their quarry didn't. So when Marisa stooped upon her, the stranger just stuck out a hand and caught the corner of a nearby building, whipping around the corner with lightning speed, while the magician was instead forced to pull up,_ hard_, or become a pancake on the side of the house across the street.

Alice faired no better, even though she sent out her dolls to form a blockade line at the end of the row. This strategy should have worked, but instead the quarry hurdled her angelhair net and on the way over, grabbed the skirt of the central Shanghai and yanked it up over the doll's head. This tumbled the tiny doll to the ground, and instinctive programming sent the other dolls down to recover their squirming comrade, rather than show the puppeteer where the youkai went.

Homura tried her hand next, flipping her hourglass shield over as soon as she sighted the youkai miscreant. Time ground to a halt, but the Puella Magi did not, instead Homura charged forward to grapple with her target. _Maybe I have fallen, too,_ Homura mused as she reached the youkai, marveling that at no point in the exercise had the thought of simply shooting the girl been entertained. Strange fear twisted in Homura's guts as she reached the girl and finally got a good solid look at her- the Puella Magi had been ignoring the shade of her target's hair, for her beloved Madoka was more than just a color, but while this girl's eyes were of a similar rose hue as her hair as opposed to Madoka's inviting rubies (_No, gold now, and how strange to overlook that change!_ Homura thought to herself), it was the _look_ in them that gave Homura pause. The youkai was both fearful, and somehow tired, as if she knew that her exertions held no hope of success, but she was compelled to try anyway. And above all, there was an innocence in those eyes that was so like Madoka, who even while on the verge of letting Gretchen's wrath overtake her never let the true weight of the world bear down upon herself.

The distraction was severe enough that Homura was still contemplating the feelings welling up inside when her hourglass ran empty. The temporal eye of her buckler snapped shut, and the world began turning once more. And so did the youkai, who rounded on Homura instantly, her face now masked behind the horrible blood-colored visage of an oni. Homura was taken aback by the sudden change, and doubly so when the youkai dealt her a thunderous uppercut, clipping the black-haired girl's teeth together and nearly lifting her off her feet.

* * *

_Oooh, it's a good thing I like this girl, or I'd be collecting her head at the end of this!_ Charlotte thought as yet another bit of foliage broke across her face. Wriggle was proving to be an absolute nightmare to chase down, using every bit of her knowledge of the forests of Gensokyo and her leverage as Queen of the Insects to lead Charlotte on a twisting, turning, nettlesome path. Nothing worked to get the Puella Magi an advantage for long; if she used danmaku to clear the way, inevitably she ended up hitting some plant that objected explosively to the situation; then, trying to use her yo-yo to slice up the intervening flora only caused it to get entangled in a sticky vine. _At this rate, I'm starting to believe the stories about her and Yuuka!_ Charlotte thought, holding tight to the irritation until she was surrounded by the reek of bitter almonds, which caused the tangling foliage to die back.

"Just stay away from me!" came a cry from a thicket close by. Naturally, Charlotte did no such thing, instead dropping down to ground level and burrowing in to the clump of bushes, to find a small hollow and a tearful Wriggle within.

"Hey. It's going to be okay. Don't cry, everything will be alright," Charlotte approached slowly and carefully- in such an enclosed space, even a weak barrage of danmaku would be devastating. More to the point, Charlotte didn't want to upset Wriggle any more than absolutely necessary.

"S-she was lying! Mysti was lying, okay? It's not like that!"

"It's okay. Really. Everything will be okay. I've been where you are right now." Charlotte said, finally getting close enough to sit down next to Wriggle.

"W-what?"

"Yeah. Not that long ago, actually. You know Kyōko, the redhead who was with us?" Charlotte asked. Wriggle turned and glared at her, anger rising to the fore.

"That monster!" Wriggle hissed.

"She was having a bit of a bad day, the first time you met her." Charlotte admitted. "Point is, I ended up with a pretty bad crush on her myself, and tried to beat the crap outta her for making me feel like that."

"So what? You want to get beat silly? Cause I can do that!"

"I'd prefer not, but if you that's what you need to do," Charlotte replied.

"Ohh! I hate you! How can you be this . . . nice?!" Wriggle snapped back.

"Just how I am, I guess." Charlotte gave a wan smile and a shrug, unsure what else to say.

"Damnit! This isn't what I wanted!" Wriggle fumed, crossing her arms in a huff.

"Oh?"

"I wanted to be with someone strong, a-and cool. Y'know, not you," the firefly grumbled.

"Well, hopefully this will tide you over, until you find what you're looking for," Charlotte replied, leaning in. Wriggle gave a confused "Huh?" and looked up just in time for her lips to meet Charlotte's. There were maybe a million complaints Wriggle could have made about the situation, but instead she chose to just melt into the embrace and savor it for as long as she was able.

* * *

"Well, aren't we a sorry sight," Marisa muttered as the team regrouped in the middle of the Human Village. Her broom was cracked from making hard turns, Alice was still repairing and placating the unfortunate Shanghai doll, Homura had what appeared to be a plum in her cheek, while Madoka merely had straw stuck in her hair, but it was still evidence of how her encounter had gone. Charlotte was nowhere to be found, which had both Cirno and Kyōko vexed, and Mystia had flown the coop.

"Indeed," Homura replied, working her jaw around and wincing. Already, the Puella Magi's powers were working to repair the damage done but Homura's aptitude for healing was merely average, which meant that unlike Sayaka, she would be sporting the bruise for some tens of minutes, more than enough time to sour her humor further. "At least now we know it isn't a Witch."

"Okay, fine, it's not a Witch, but what the hell is she then?" Kyōko put in.

"I'm . . . not sure," Alice replied. "Patchouli is the walking encyclopedia, not me. But I can tell you, she must be a tsukumogami of some sort."

"A whosawhatsit now?" Kyōko asked, looking dubious.

"Tsukumogami. A youkai created from the spirit of an old object." Alice provided, muttering "(you bloody heathen)" under her breath in response to Kyōko's ignorance. "In any case," she continued, ignoring the glare from Kyōko which was every bit as sharp as the redhead's spear. "Such youkai tend to have a fixation of some sort, based on the object which created them. Kogasa Tatara for example; as she is a karakasa, her goal in life is to surprise people."

"She could try being useful sometime. That'd surprise the hell outta me, ze!" Marisa added, her voice dark with sarcasm.

"Yes, well, if we can find out what her fixation is-" A shriek of anger interrupted Alice as she was speaking, followed immediately after by a squeal of pain from Cirno as the ice fairy was engulfed in ghostly flames.

The mysterious youkai leaped into the fray, her oni mask tied up on the side of her head and a ghostly glaive in her hands, and Cirno was nearly skewered whole before she could gather her wits and mount a defense. In moments, Cirno had been driven out of the square by a furious barrage of glaive strikes, flames, and what appeared to be phantasmal masks whirling about the girl like buzzsaws. Kyōko raised her hand.

"Sensei, if her fixation is 'beating the piss out of Cirno', does that narrow it down any?"

"Not in the slightest," Alice replied. "I suppose we had better go save her," the puppeteer sighed.

"I think so, ze. It'd be pretty embarrassing to let Cirno get Witch'd after all."

In fact, Cirno was thinking roughly the same thing, if not quite as politely, as she frantically parried what she could with her ice blades and tried to dodge out of the rest of the stuff. Despite the amount of power she could wield as a Puella Magi, Cirno was on the losing end of this encounter, for one simple reason; she couldn't transform. Whereas a veteran such as Kyōko could will herself into her battle costume in an instant, or even draw her weapon straight from her Soul Gem while still in its storage signet form, Cirno needed at least a full second of concentration to make the changeover, and that much time she was not being provided. For a moment, she thought she was going to get the chance when her mysterious assailant swapped a kitsune mask onto her face and unleashed a massive Spellcard that was easily bombed into oblivion, but the mana mists hadn't even faded when the pink-haired youkai's glaive was slicing towards Cirno's throat once again.

Then, for the second time that evening, a shriek that was rage transmuted into raw noise shook the air, and the attacker paused to look at whence the commotion came when she was simply blown out of Cirno's field of vision down a side street. The ice fairy blinked hard, twice, and then an uncontrollable giggle fit took her as she pieced together what had just happened.

At the end of the block, the pink-haired youkai rolled out of her tumble and popped back up, a large shoe-print marring the right side of her face, and then it was her turn to quail beneath a rain of danmaku, as Wriggle peeled off every one of her Spellcards in one long chain. Almost a minute later, the barrages ended, and the firefly youkai stood there, panting from exertion and glaring at her foe. The mysterious girl looked somewhat worse for wear, but not near as bad as the surrounding terrain. Any thought of a counterattack was stalled by the rest of the gang arriving beside Wriggle. Marisa let out a low whistle as she processed the devastation.

"(So, what's bugging the bug?)" Marisa whispered, not quite interested in trying her luck against the furious firefly at the moment. Alice pieced it together first, then elbowed her partner and nodded towards Charlotte, who looked flushed and angry as well, if not to the same level as Wriggle. This caused Marisa to go goggle-eyed as she caught the implication. "(Are you shitting me, ze?!)" she hissed.

"Give it back!" the mysterious youkai shouted, forestalling any further speculation. "You! Now!" she cried out, pointing at Cirno.

"Give what back? What're you talking about?"

"What kind of idiot are you? My mask, give it back!"

"Huh? You mean this?" Cirno reached up and pulled off the Buddha mask that she had worn trick-or-treating. "Uh, sure. Catch," said the ice fairy, tossing the mask towards her assailant. At about the halfway mark, the mask suddenly stopped moving and snapped into an upright position before dissolving into ghostly fire. The flaming spirit was drawn back to the youkai, where it entered a steady orbit around her. This in turn elicited a sigh of great contentment from the youkai. "Much better. Now you can tell me where to find that thieving bitch of a satori who took it from me in the first place, so I can kill her properly."

"Wait, what?!" Marisa blurted out, giving voice to what was certainly the most common thought among the group.

"I think it might be time to hand this off to the professionals," said Alice, a sentiment that got considerable agreement.

* * *

The now-expanded party touched down at the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion to find the gatekeeper propped up against the wall, asleep. This was more-or-less the expected state of affairs; even Remilia had conceded that a gate and fence arrangement was basically pointless in a place where almost everyone could fly. Still, for formality's sake, Marisa reached out and poked Meiling with her broom.

"Zz-uh? Thich-er-tresh is 5 till 8, or until the bucket is . . . Oh, uh, hi." Meiling started and shook herself awake. "As I was saying the bucket is- oh. Not here. So I guess no more trick-or-treat time, sorry." the gate-guardian trailed off, noticing that the large bucket of candy that had been placed next to her to hand out was entirely missing. Marisa looked over at Cirno, who just rolled her eyes in response. The Nineballs didn't even try stealing the Mansion's candy bucket on Halloween any more; there was no challenge in it.

"We're not here to trick-or-treat, actually. We need to talk to Reimu." Alice said, before the conversation could be further derailed.

"Okay . . . hey, wait! How do I know you're not going to just raid Miss Patchouli's library again?" Meling replied, taking up a fighting stance.

"Go back to sleep, Meiling. Even if we were here for a fight, there's nine of us and one of you. Those odds aren't in your favor."

"Oh. That's true, I suppose. Well then, g'night . . ." Meiling leaned back against the wall, and was asleep the moment her eyes closed.

"She coulda at least opened the gate for us, ze," Marisa grumbled, as the party lifted off just long enough to pass over the gate. However, upon seeing lights at the back of the Mansion, the girls decided to instead swing around the building and land there, entering through the garden doors. "Yo, Reimu!" thundered the magician, loudly enough to spook birds out of the bell tower and even interrupt Flandre's tea party in the basement.

"What'd'ya want?" the shrine maiden yelled back.

"We brought you an Incident!"

"_What?!_"

"Yeah! And it's not even Christmas!" That was sufficient to get Reimu to appear almost instantly, flying in such a fury that the curtains and tapestries started dancing in her wake.

"Alright, what's all this about? An Incident? What kind?"

"Uh, this kind," Marisa replied, pushing the youkai of the masks forward.

"And what's her deal?" Reimu asked, leaning forward to look over the youkai.

"I have a name, you know," the yokuai replied, slapping Marisa's hands away. "I am Hata no Kokoro. I seek a satori beast who has wronged me greatly. I will find her, and then kill her. You can help me, or you can get out of my way." Oddly, for as harsh as the words were, Kokoro spat them out in a fast, emotionless, monotone. As she spoke, Kokoro's spirit masks began to whirl around her once more. Reimu noted that while the youkai's lantern-like skirt was decorated with stylized masks of comedy and tragedy, the three orbiting her currently were all visages of ill omen.

"Okay, back up. What the hell is going on here? And what's with the parade? Surely it didn't take two Magicians, four Puella Magi, and two Nineballs to subdue one youkai?"

"Well, actually, it kinda did, ze," Marisa replied, sheepishly. Looking back to Kokoro, Reimu saw that somehow she had switched a grinning _Fuku no Kami_ mask onto her face when they weren't looking. "See, me and Alice were heading into the Human Village to pick up some reagents," Marisa started to say, but she was interrupted by a harsh fit of coughing from Alice, who coughed out something that sounded suspiciously like "candy!" in the middle. Reimu's dubious glare silenced the puppeteer, and Marisa continued, "_Reagents,_ as I was saying, but when we got there, we felt something like one of the Outsider Witches and so we called in the cavalry-"

"There was a Witch? Here? In Gensokyo?"

"No, no, I was getting to that," Marisa replied, making a placating gesture. "Anyway, Kokoro-chan here is a menreiki, and somehow she lost one of her masks, which caused her to give off some serious bad vibes. That problem is fixed, Cirno found the mask, but she claimed a satori stole it from her, and that's when we brought her here."

"And if it had been a Witch, when were you going to tell me?" Reimu asked.

"Uh, we weren't, ze? It's their area of expertise, let them handle it."

"That's not acceptable! I need to know when stuff like that happens!" Reimu shouted, getting up on the balls of her feet. Cirno and Wriggle cowered back out of reflexive habit, and even the Puella Magi took a step back.

"Hey lady, less shouting, more finding my satori!" Kokoro fired back, and the oni mask was in place again.

"Right, uh, what was the problem again?" Reimu blinked.

"She stole my Mask of Hope! I saw her, with her filthy little smirk and that stupid little hat on her head, she made my Mask of Hope disappear! She stole it!"

"Okay, well that's unfortunate, but that's no cause to go and kill someone, alright?"

"Not alright!" Kokoro drew out her ghostly glaive and took up a fighting stance. Reimu narrowed her eyes at the challenge and stuck out a hand. In response to her beckoning, the Yin-Yang Orb rocketed int the scene, before splitting into four miniature orbs which took up a complex orbit around the Priestess of the Radiant Sun, instantly making it daytime inside the Mansion. Everyone else scattered, not wanting to be standing in the middle of a danmaku duel when it started. In a moment of forethought, Alice sent two dolls to open up the garden doors, hoping to at least minimize some of the property damage when the brawl started. Spirit masks started whirling around Kokoro now, forming a barrier as well as taking on a charge of magic that had lightning crackling between them, while Reimu fanned out ofuda with one hand and Spellcards with the other.

"Reimu, dearest, _what have I told you about playing with your toys in the house?_" came a call from the balcony. Remilia stood there with a sickly-sweet false smile upon her face, and with one hand she held out a fairy maid for all to see, the poor thing's glassed-over eyes and a large lump on the back of her head a testament to an unfortunate collision with the Yin-Yang Orb. "And what is this now? You weren't thinking of starting a duel _inside the house, _were you?"

"N-no?" Reimu replied quickly, stuffing her ofuda away with uncanny speed.

"Good, I'm glad to hear that. Now, would you care to invite your friends in for tea?" Remila asked, showing just enough fang to ensure everyone recognized the invitation for the command it was. "(Blood of Tepes, I should lock _you_ in the basement!)" mumbled the Scarlet Devil, looking down upon her love and shaking her head.

On the way to the tea room, however, half the party somehow got lost. More specifically, Kyōko lagged behind just long enough for Reimu and Remilia to turn a corner and then she dragged Charlotte, Cirno, and Wriggle off the path with her.

"Alright, now that the grownups are gone, it's time to get down to actually fixing things." Kyōko said with a grin. "But first, why don't you guys go sort yourselves out? I'll make sure Old Spit n' Polish sends some tea and cookies over this way." That got some giggles from the girls, a rare enough achievement when Sakuya Izayoi was involved, but Charlotte quickly reverted to a tense neutral.

"What do you mean, sort out?"

_Peachie, I can feel you boiling over. And I don't think it was homework you two were doing when you were interrupted by the mask-girl's attack._ This drew a glare from Charlotte, but it was Cirno who spoke first.

"Wait, what? What'd'ya mean by that, what _were_ they doing?!" Cirno chirped. This caused Charlotte and Wriggle to nearly get whiplash in their attempt to glare at both Kyōko and Cirno at once.

_Gee, thanks for completely screwing me over!_ Charlotte sent, taking the direct route.

"Trust me," Kyōko replied, out loud for everyone's benefit. "It's better to confront a problem like this head-on."

"Well that's fine for you, but you don't have these two to deal with!" Charlotte cried out.

"No, I just have Homura Akemi and Deputy Constable Sayaka Miki to deal with. Trade'ya." replied Kyōko. Drawing a stick from her ever-present Pocky pack, the redhead strode off, chuckling to herself. "Now to go inconvenience everybody else."

"Well, let's go out to the garden and get this over with," Charlotte sighed.

"Why the garden?" Cirno asked, puzzled.

"I don't see any way this is going end without danmaku, and I don't want to bring the Scarlet Devil down on our heads." replied Charlotte, grimly. Wriggle and Cirno readily conceded Charlotte's point, and the three of them hustled outside, glancing over their shoulders in superstitious fear. There was of course no logical reason why merely making mention of possible misdeeds should bring the wrath of Remilia or her knife-wielding attack dog down on the group, but then again, none of the three were fool enough to trust something like logic in Gensokyo.

Outside, a full moon reigned in the night sky, bathing the girls in cold silvery light. "Okay, so what's going on?" Cirno asked, posing with her arms crossed and wings spread, which in the moonlight made her appear less a person and more the portrait in a stained-glass window come alive.

"Well, somebody decided to psychoanalyze me and think that she could make up for all of her past misdeeds with a kiss." Wriggle snapped out.

"_A _kiss, huh? Must've been a pretty long one, considering how long you two were gone." Cirno snarled back.

"Well, it was more like several," Wriggle replied. "Y'know, quantity over quality, and all that."

"(Not helping!)" Charlotte hissed.

"Actually, Eye wouldn't know. She's never kissed me." Cirno said, cold and hard as her icicle wings.

"Whoa, what?" This was enough to actually throw Wriggle off-balance for a moment. "But I thought . . . "

"Thought what? That just because we've been buddies, fighting together and sharing our frickin' souls with each other, that Eye'd gotten there first, that we were already to that stage? Yeah, I had thought so too. Guess not." Cirno spat out, before boosting into the air.

"Cirno, wait! It's not that- Damnit!" Charlotte stretched out her hand, but there was no hope of catching hold of the speeding ice fairy.

"I-I didn't realize," Wriggle mumbled. "I was so sure you two were already together. I was just trying to tease you, I thought since I couldn't have you I could at least play with you, a-and maybe push it away." Tears shimmering in her eyes, Wriggle looked to Charlotte, then off into the distance in the direction Cirno had gone. "You're going to go after her, right?"

"Is that what you want?"

"No. But it's what needs to be done." Wriggle sobbed out an explosive breath that could have been a laugh, some other time. "This whole time, all I've wanted was to beat her at something, anything. And then you came along, and I decided I hated you, because really I'd fallen for you. And now I've g-got both, and, and . . ."

"It turns out what you wished for was the worst thing imaginable?" Charlotte replied. Wriggle blinked and looked up to see the peach-haired girl had the start of an impish smile on her face.

"Y-yeah, I guess."

"Hah! I guess that makes you an honorary Puella Magi." Charlotte licked her lips, and then planted a wet, sticky kiss on Wriggle's forehead. _Welcome to the club, _Charlotte sent.

"Wow!" Wriggle breathed as Charlotte launched herself into the air.

* * *

The previous year had seen many things happen that could be called nothing less than miracles. However, those were merely impossible; nothing had rewritten the very fundamentals of the universe, and so people could still rely on a few constants. Gravity, for one. Time. Matter. And the reprehensible, catastrophic straightforwardness of one Kyōko Sakura. Upon entering the tea room, Kyōko did not listen in to see what was being discussed and she did not scan the faces of her compatriots to gauge their mood, but instead she walked straight into the middle of the room, drew out a Spellcard, and pulled Koishi Komeiji bodily into the discussion. Nova came tumbling after, having unwittingly played the part of the tow rope, and she set her long sidelocks to flopping back and forth as she shook her head to clear it.

Hata no Kokoro was shocked, as shown by the thunderous scowl of her _Raiden_ mask, but not impressed. "You think a change of clothes can fool me? She is the one!" Indeed, Koishi wasn't wearing her usual outfit, but instead a rather curious getup, consisting of a long-sleeved, black-and-white striped shirt, with pink plaid collars and cuffs sewn on, short denim shorts, pink kneesocks embellished with hearts, and black sneakers, their laces gathered up in silver heart clasps, calling back to the unseen anchors that tied her Third Eye and its looping vessels to her form.

"Uh, what's the occasion, ze?" Marisa asked, being the first to recover.

"Oh, we were just out shopping. Nova was showing me what Outside fashion looks like. What do you think?" Koishi asked, posing for inspection. _Oh, well that explains it, _flashed from mind to mind on the empathic link.

"Hey, that's not nice!" Koishi pouted and glared from one Puella Magi to the next.

"Sorry, Koishi-chan, but Nova-chan isn't quite an ideal guide to our culture," Madoka put in. "Your outfit doesn't look bad though, just . . . different." That placated Koishi somewhat, but she turned to Kyōko and pointed.

"Out with it! I can hear what you're thinking in double-vision you know!" Koishi called out, tapping her Third Eye.

"What? That everything Nova does is a little bent? Sorry, but it's true." Kyōko responsed. "I mean seriously, she took to natto back in furball form. That shoulda been our first clue something was up!"

"Hey! What's wrong with natto?" Madoka asked, pouting.

"What _isn't_ wrong with it? I tried not to eat it if I could help it, and that's saying something!" Kyōko fired back.

A bullet grazed Kyōko's nose and put an abrupt end to the Great Natto War. Hata no Kokoro had her oni mask on again, and was growling enough to do the visage proud. "Enough with your stupid food!" she yelled, still flat but now loud. "Back to the matter at hand. You stole my Mask of Hope! Admit it, thief, so we can get on to the killing!" Kokoro pointed her glaive at Koishi for emphasis.

"I what now? I was out shopping with Nova all day. I didn't steal anything!"

"Oh, and I suppose you don't recognize this?" Kokoro asked, pulling out the mask in question.

"No, actually, I don't!"

"(Oh, fuck me,)" Reimu breathed.

"That would seem to be a rather extreme method of distraction, my dear, but I suppose I'll try anything once," Remilia said through a grin of fangs.

"What? No, that's not what I meant."

"Then next time, you should say what you mean, you awful tease!" Remilia replied.

"Maybe some other time. What I was trying to say was I know what happened." To the questioning look she received, Reimu elaborated with, "I've run this scam before. I need you to run and go get a couple people for me."

"Me? Why not go yourself?"

"Because in about two minutes this is going to turn into a fight, and somebody needs to stay and referee." Reimu muttered, casting a dark look at the mutually-aggrieved parties in the room.

"I do see your point. Who am I looking for?"

* * *

Cirno fled aimlessly into the night, but unfortunately she wasn't nearly a fast enough flier to outpace her feelings. _It's not fair! After everything we've been through, I shoulda have first dibs! _

_Even though you never said anything? And even though she wasn't ready before?_

_Yeah! Even though! _Cirno looked down at her hand, at the crystalline band around her middle finger, and the white snowflake mark on the nail. _And gods damn all of you for giving me this stupid thing! Eye don't wanna know how it hurts her! Eye didn't ask!_ There was a flash, and Cirno belatedly realized she had bared one of her ice blades, to strike the offending ring- and finger, at that- from her body. And then Charlotte was there, calling out her name. Cirno whiled about in a fury, casting slivers of ice on the winds which forced the peach-haired girl to roll away.

"Go away!" Cirno yelled, bursting back into motion. She cut a crazy, zig-zag path before the moon, but none of the aerial maneuvers managed to throw Charlotte off her tail.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Charlotte yelled back. "This is where I want to be."

"Well, maybe I don't want to be around people I can't trust!" the ice fairy shouted back, cutting a hard turn to try and bull her way past Charlotte.

"I screwed up, and I'm sorry. But she was hurting. I couldn't just let that be, I had to do something!"

"Eye don't care!" Cirno shouted. "So what if she's hurting? Now I'm hurting, and you're not willing to do anything like that for me!" That drew a strangled giggle of hysteria from Charlotte, as her brain tried and failed to unpack the logic of the charge.

"What do you want from me?" Charlotte asked, voice rough from shouting over the winds, among other things. There was a splash of moonlight in the sky, and Cirno turned back on Charlotte, garbed in her Puella Magi gear, swords out.

"Nothing. I don't want anything from you. You're not my friend, and I don't want to be around you, got it?" Cirno slashed the air with her blades, throwing arcs of razored ice for emphasis.

"Cirno! Please, don't do this to me," Charlotte begged, edging closer. "I'm sorry that this didn't work out,"

"Oh, so you're not sorry you did it, you're just sorry it didn't work like you wanted it to? I see." Cirno turned her back to Charlotte, blades crossed at the ready. The gusting of wind over cloth alerted her that Charlotte was approaching. "Eye said, go _away-_"

Cirno was cut off by a horrible impact. The grinding squeal of her icy wings tearing through flesh sent shivers of nausea up the ice fairy's spine, and there was a splash of blood, frighteningly hot against her cold skin. "Why . . ?"

Charlotte curled her hands around the ice fairy, until she was able to touch Cirno's Soul Gem with her fingertips. Waves of bitter sharp pain flowed though the gem, tearing a sympathetic scream from Cirno. _This is what it felt like. This was the pain she was in. I can feel when everybody is hurting, all the time._

"You stupid idiot!" Cirno cried out.

_Am I selfish, for wanting to make her feel better, so I don't have to feel that? Yeah, I guess so. And yeah, I enjoyed it._

"Eye don't care about that! You're bleeding! Again!"

"Y-yeah, maybe I did go a bit overboard." Charlotte said, struggling for breath.

"A bit? A _bit?!_ You're officially the craziest person I know!"

"T-thanks. I think."

"That wasn't a compliment!" Cirno shouted back. "Just hold on tight, okay?" Taking the half-hearted squeeze Charlotte gave her as a yes, Cirno pulled out a Spellcard and burned it, closing her eyes and focusing on the Scarlet Devil Mansion with all her might.

* * *

Reimu's prediction turned out to be in error, but she was unsure how much longer it would last. Koishi and Kokoro were fully engaged in their argument, and the outrage seemed to be contagious; Marisa and Alice were looking more combative by the minute, Nova had already transformed and run out her double blade, and even Madoka was arguing harshly with Kyōko. Reimu was contemplating bringing enlightenment to her subjects the hard way when a bloodcurdling scream shook the Mansion. That broke the spell for a moment, long enough for the arguers to be left in the dust as Reimu, Alice, Marisa, and Sakuya shot out of the room, flying as hard as they dared in the confines of the Mansion. Then a second scream rolled through the empathic link, and that got the Puella Magi to drop what they were doing and take off as well.

In an instant, Hata no Kokoro found herself completely abandoned in the tea room, and seeing no other option, she sat back down in her chair in a huff and snatched up her teacup. The tea was quite good, at least.

The fliers reached the garden to find Cirno, kneeling upon the grass with Charlotte still slumped over her back, impaled upon the fairy's wings. A frantic Wriggle was dancing around the pair, trying to hold Charlotte up, pull her off the ruinous spikes, something, anything.

"Jesus Christ!" Kyōko exclaimed, upon seeing the extent of the damage.

_It seemed like a good idea at the time,_ Charlotte sent.

"Okay, Peachie, repeat after me: Kyōko Sakura is _not_ a role model . . ."

"I think she's a great role model, actually," Madoka said, stepping up and planting her rose-branch bow into the earth. Tendrils reached out and gripped Charlotte, infusing her with the light of Madoka's Soul Gem and bracing her weight. That still left the problem of the spikes, however.

"You! Hey!" Cirno called out, looking up at Marisa and making sure to catch the magician's attention. "C'mon!"

"A-wha?" Marisa sputtered. Intellectually, Marisa understood what was being asked, but her mind rebelled against the idea.

"Oh, don't be an idiot! Do it, quickly!" Cirno grit her teeth and glared up at Marisa until the latter drew her Hakkero. Only when the baleful eye of the elemental reactor opened did Cirno look away, and then Marisa fired, not the ravening blast of the Master Spark, but a much more tightly focused beam that played in the space between the conjoined girls, melting away Cirno's wings with a hiss of steam. As the beam cut off, Cirno flopped down and rolled out from beneath Charlotte, panting from the pain as her wings reformed. "Okay, now we just need to-"

"Allow me." Byakuren stepped into the circle, cheerful and radiant as ever, even despite the circumstances. Behind her, Remilia darted over to see what had happened and gasped.

"Good grief! What happened here?"

"Well, it would appear we're not the only ones who had their first date go poorly," Reimu said.

"I guess not!" Remilia exclaimed. Then she fell silent as Byakuren began working her healing magic, a veritable miracle that stole away all attention from the onlookers. Golden radiance poured from Charlotte's wounds until they were no more, and then she gave as the spell receded and her flesh was her own once more. Cirno arrived moments after, sweeping Charlotte into a huge hug.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me I didn't mean for that to happen!" Cirno cried out, burying her head in Charlotte's hair and dusting it with frozen jewels of tears.

"S'ok," Charlotte replied, a bit dreamy. "I'm the one who keeps running into sharp things."

"That's right!" Wriggle added, wrapping herself around Charlotte from the opposite side. "I guess that means I'll have to stick close to you from now on, so I can save you from your stupid self!"

"I suppose so," Charlotte replied. "Besides . . . " she twisted slightly and whispered into Wriggle's ear, setting a burning luminescent blush upon the firefly's face. Madoka turned and poked Kyōko in the ribs.

"Don't get any ideas, Kyōko-chan. Homura and Sayaka would probably just draw straws to see who gets to finish you off!"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Kyōko grumbled, but she shook loose a stick of Pocky and held it out for Madoka.

"Does anyone else have any life-threatening emergencies to declare? No? Then back to the previous order of business," Reimu growled out. "Nue!" shouted the shrine maiden, causing a fragment of Byakuren's shadow to break off and slink forward, looking guilty. "I think you have some explaining to do," Reimu said, glaring at the chimeric youkai.

* * *

The party returned to the tea room at a much more sedate pace and in much better spirits for most of them to find Hata no Kokoro directing a puppet show of sorts, using the spirit forms of her masks to play out a silly story overhead, to the delight of the fairy maids assigned to the room. As soon as she noticed the girls returning, Kokoro dispelled her masks, looking slightly embarrassed for having been caught at play, and slightly angry at her embarrassment.

"I have good news for you, and bad news, Kokoro," Reimu announced, before pushing Nue forward. "First, the good; we found your culprit." Kokoro put on a monkey-spirit mask expressing the type of confusion that usually resulted in jeers of a most earthy and vile sort being thrown at the problem, but then Nue's form began to melt and shift, reshaping her into the image of Koishi. Nova, having become intimately familiar with the younger Komeiji sister over the previous month was able to pick out a hundred tiny things wrong with the doppelganger, but even she had to admit that absent a reason to question what she was seeing, Nova would have believed the figure she was seeing to be Koishi from a reasonable distance.

"Would you like to enlighten us, Nue-san, as to why you did what you did?" Byakuren asked, in a quiet, polite tone more dangerous than any frothing rage.

"I was just trying to practice, to keep up my skill with the Seeds of Non-Detection. Sorry," Nue said, hanging her (well, her version of Koishi's) head.

"And now the bad news; you can't kill her." Reimu said. This got Kokoro to bolt out of her seat, glaring at Reimu through the eyes of her oni mask.

"What?! She tampered with my essence, she could have killed me, and you're just going to let her be?"

"I didn't say that," Reimu replied quickly. "I only said you couldn't kill her. Trust me," the Priestess of the Sun added with a grin.

"We'll think of something much worse."


End file.
